Richard S. Davis

Good news: more online education coming to UW

Today’s Seattle Times report that the University of Washington has signed on with Coursera to offer online education represents good news and a welcome extension of a model designed to expand access to higher education. Coursera is “a huge experiment that is transforming the face of higher education,” said Daphne Koller, a Stanford University computer-science […]

Governors, economists tally the costs of Medicaid expansion under ACA

The New York Times reports today that the nation’s governors, meeting in Williamsburg, VA, are taking a cautious approach to the Medicaid expansion baked into the Affordable Care Act, but rendered voluntary by the U.S. Supreme Court. The initial reaction to the court’s ruling split along party lines. More than half a dozen Republican governors […]

New business climate ranking out: CNBC places Washington No. 21

Washington finishes the “best business climate” race in 21st place, according to a new report by CNBC. Texas comes in first, followed by Utah and Virginia. The full rankings are here. Our state does relatively well on the CNBC metrics for access to capital (3) and technology and innovation (5). We do not do so […]

WWU collective bargaining agreement and 16 percent tuition hike

Gov. Gregoire recently wrote Western Washington University president Bruce Shephard expressing grave concern with the school’s faculty collective bargaining agreement. Here’s the Seattle Times’ summary and context: …the governor criticized the university’s decision to raise salaries 5.25 percent this school year and 4.25 percent each of the following two years in addition to boosting department-chair […]

Manufacturing down, raising recession risk

The Institute for Supply Management today reports a contaction in manufacturing activity. Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in June for the first time since July 2009; however, the overall economy grew for the 37th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®. The report was issued today by Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, […]

Merle Hazard's take on the fiscal cliff…

Here’s a much more accessible take on the fiscal cliff, the topic of this post earlier today. h/t Calculated Risk.

The "fiscal cliff" threatens state budgets

In my column today I look at threats to the September revenue forecast, with a particular focus on the fiscal cliff. As we noted in our earlier post, the forecast council acknowledges a 40 percent probability that state revenues will come in substantially below the baseline projection (that’s the pessimistic forecast). The usual risks are […]

Official June revenue forecast little changed, risk factors remain high

The economic and revenue forecast council is meeting now to receive the official revenue forecast from interim director Steve Lerch. Here are the numbers: Changes to the economic forecast, which were slight, have resulted in a $16.1 million reduction to the General Fund-State (GF-S) revenue forecast for the current biennium and $132.9 million for the […]

Washington shows well in U.S. Chamber's 2012 "Enterprising States" report.

The 2012 Enterprising States report from the National Chamber Foundation, an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, contains a lot of praise for Washington’s economic performance and outlook. Here’s a snapshot of the state’s rankings on the measures used in the report. Note that on none of the criteria does Washington fall below the […]

AWB endorses charter school initiative

In a recent column I wrote about the public charter school initiative filed by several education reform groups here. The column focused primarily on the remarkable success of Louisiana’s Recovery School District, a majority-charter district. The RSD has been responsible for the turnaround of New Orleans schools. This week the Association of Washington Business endorsed […]